If you’re like me, you hate it when someone starts out with “this is a true story” and you know it’s not. Well, I’m going to relate a true story. People who know me, know that I just don’t lie. If you tell your lie, you have to remember that lie and cover it up with another lie. I don’t have time to make up stories or tell lies, and those who know me know that. If they don’t want to hear the truth from me, then don’t ask me. Life is too short to live it based on lies.
Many years ago, when we lived outside of Ontario, Oregon, we lived in a house that was, at one time, an underground house. Only about a foot or two of it stuck up above ground level. As we understood, it was in the mid 1970s that whoever owned the house added a complete upper floor to it. The downstairs– the original underground house– remained pretty much the same, except a bedroom and a storage room was added. In the main room, I had my office and held martial arts classes twice a week as well as martial arts classes at three other locations.
I used to hide my guns all over the house (or maybe I “staged” them for ready access). I didn’t own enough firearms to justify buying a gun safe, so the guns were hidden. I looked for the better part of two years for a S&W Model 645 that I hid from myself. I thought maybe I lost it or perhaps traded it and didn’t remember doing so. It was driving me crazy, and in my case it was a short drive.
I was writing for American Survival Guide magazine at the time, along with some firearm and knife magazines. I was expecting a check from ASG shortly before Christmas to help me do my Christmas shopping. Well, the check didn’t arrive and I contacted my editor. He was of no help. He was more than a little miffed that he didn’t get his annual $6,000 bonus before Christmas, so my meager $400 check didn’t much matter to him, and he told me so. The woman who cut the checks worked out of NYC and was gone for the holidays. There was no way to get me my check. It all came down to the fact that ASG was sold to another publishing company. That’s why my editor didn’t get his bonus. There was none.
Fortunately, I was rearranging my office and when I moved a filing cabinet, there was that S&W Model 645, hidden under it. My luck was short lived. I ended up selling that gun to raise funds to pay for Christmas for the family. I did eventually get that long overdue paycheck, though long after the holidays.
This little story leads me to today. I still hide guns all over my house, but I know where they are all at. I’m within a couple steps of reaching for a loaded handgun or rifle any place in my home. The guns are “staged” ready to use at a moments notice. Between my German Shepherds, acting as my early alarm, I can reach for a gun in a second or two, in order to fend off any attacks. The important thing, as least to me, is that I remember where all these guns are, as does my family.
Okay. This is a long way of introducing Tactical Walls, who produces everyday looking furniture that actually are designed to store (stage) firearms for ready use. Take the time to look over their website. You will be blown away at all the everyday looking products they produce that look like ordinary furniture and which a bad guy wouldn’t give a second glance at if they broke into your home while you were away at work. That’s nice!
Tactical Walls sent me their small floating shelf and their rather large wall clock. Both products can conceal handguns, ready for use, inside of them. The wall clock can hold several handguns as well as a knife or two with some spare magazines, too. When I first received these two products, I intentionally did not read the directions on how to open them. I will admit that I was dumbfounded with the floating shelf. The wall clock, I figured out in a few minutes how to open, but the floating shelf stumped me, my wife, and our oldest daughter. So, we had to read the directions on how simple it was to secure a handgun inside and readily access it.
I requested both of these pieces of furniture in all black, to match some of our furniture in our living room. They are available in a variety of colors to match your home’s décor. In the past, in another season of life, I worked as a professional photographer. I forgot how difficult it is to photograph items that are all black. My oldest daughter and I spent the better part of a Saturday afternoon attempting to get some great pictures. We only managed to get a few usable pics, though, so some of the pics you see with this article are from Tactical Walls.
First up is the 1410M Tactical Wall Clock, and it can be had in different colors and with different clock faces on it, too. As mentioned, it is a rather large clock. The hidden compartment inside is 14” wide by 10” high. It can easily hide a couple of handguns with spare magazines and a knife or two. The clock is non-locking, but it has a simple Velcro method of attaching the clock face to the hidden compartment, and you simply press on the clock face at the right area, and it opens so you can retrieve your weapons. This one sells for $175 retail, and the clock is actually a working clock, too.
The floating wall shelf is the model 812PLS, which retails for $179. It has an 8” deep by 12” wide hidden compartment, in which you can store one handgun. It is foam lined, and you need to cut the foam to fit the handgun you want to hide in it. It is a locking storage device, and I don’t want to give away any secrets, but it is a magnetic lock, and you can hide the key behind a picture that you put on the shelf. Then, inside of a second or two, you can open the hidden compartment to have access to your weapon.
Now, keep in mind that these are not gun safes of any sort. They are designed to stage your firearms for rapid access. So, take care in selecting any of the Tactical Walls products. If you have small children at home who aren’t familiar with firearms and aren’t aware of firearms safety, you might want to give serious consideration to which Tactical Walls products you purchase. Even if you have a gun safe, it is still a good idea, to my way of thinking, to have a firearm or two that you can readily access. I know, I know; some locales have passed stupid laws that require you keep your firearms unloaded and/or locked up at all times. This does the gun owner no good if someone is kicking in your door or is already in the house.
I know many other gun writers who are like me in that they have loaded firearms “staged” at various locations throughout their homes and ready for use. Yes, they do have gun safes, too, to secure all the collectible and valuable firearms. I own no collectible firearms, and many would be surprised at how few firearms I actually own. Many guns pass through my hands for testing for articles, and as much as I’d like to keep them all I simply can’t afford to do so. So they are either returned to the gun company or I allow my local FFL dealer to purchase them and send a check to the gun company. This is a fairly common practice with many gun writers. The FFLs we use to receive our gun samples are doing us a service, and they charge us very little for doing the paperwork so we can get the guns for testing.
In my home, I still have firearms that are “hidden” almost in plain view and ready for use. However, the Tactical Walls products have just added another layer of “secrecy” to hiding some guns in plain sight.
The Tactical Walls products I received for testing were very well made and worth the selling price, if you ask me. A lot of thought went into designing these products, and they are executed flawlessly, too. Once again, take a close look at the Tactical Walls website. I’m betting you’ll find more than a couple of their products you’ll want for your home. My wife and oldest daughter have their sights set on getting them, too.
– Senior Product Review Editor, Pat Cascio